Animals and humans don’t act the same way, some human behaviors will be odd to animals and some animal behaviors will be odd to humans.
This article looks into why your female budgie may be sitting in its food bowl
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Female budgie sitting in food bowl:
We humans know not to play with our food, but budgies not only play with their food, they sometimes sit in their food bowl as well.
Here are reasons why your bird may be doing this:
Nesting:
Your budgies may be living with you in your home but the bird still has some wild bird traits. One such wild bird trait that your bird likely still has is finding small crevices to nest in.
In the wild, budgies will build their nests in hollow tree trunks or in other small crevices. They choose this space because this is where the birds feel safe. Your birds will still do this while living with you.
If your budgie does not feel as though the nest box that you give it is appropriate to nest in, then the bird may try to nest in its food bowl.
The bird may also choose its food bowl as somewhere to nest because the food bowl is the safest place the bird can find away from predators.
What to do:
There isn’t really much harm in your bird choosing to nest in its food bowl apart from the fact that the bird may poop in its nest food and contaminate its food.
If it is the breeding season, and the bird lays eggs in the food bowl, then the eggs will hatch in the food bowl
You can remedy this situation by trying to give the bird different nest boxes to choose from.
Place these next boxes close to where the food bowl is so that the bird is comfortable enough to move from the food bowl to the new nest box.
You can also give also offer her some cups that she can sit in and nest in.
You can move the food bowl but don’t take it away completely as the bird still needs access to its food at all times.
Also, if you choose to move her yourself, try to quickly move her as she doesn’t like to be touched at this time.
Once the bird has found a mate she will become unfriendly because has found her mate and has mated with him
Comfort:
If your bird isn’t breeding, and hasn’t made a nest in her food bowl, then the bird may simply be sitting in the food bowl because it is more comfortable than sitting elsewhere.
This is very likely to happen if the bird doesn’t have access to many perches to sit on.
If your bird’s feet get tired of sitting on one perch, and she doesn’t have any other perches to go sit on, then the food bowl is her next best bet.
What to do:
To keep the bird from sitting in her food bowl, and possibly contaminating her food, it is advised that you give the bird a variety of perches of different sizes to perch on.
Try to give her perches that have diameters of 1/4″, 1/2″, and so on and so forth to keep the bird comfortable and happy while in her cage.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other bird related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Why Do Birds Chirp In The Afternoon, Why Does My Bird Put His Food In His Water?, Why Do Birds Chirp While Eating?, Female Budgie Rubbing Vent, Why Does My Cockatiel Sit In His Water Dish?